John Kotter's highly regarded books Leading Change (1995) and the follow-up The Heart of Change (2002) describe a helpful model for understanding and managing change. Each stage acknowledges a key principle identified by Kotter which relates to people's response and approach to change, in which people see, feel and then change.

Kotter's eight-step change model can be summarised as:

Increase urgency – Inspire people to move, make objectives real and relevant.

Build the guiding team – Get the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and the right mix of skills and levels.

Get the vision right – Get the team to establish a simple vision and strategy, focus on emotional and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency.

Communicate for buy-in – Involve as many people as possible, communicate the essentials simply, and to appeal and respond to people's needs. De-clutter communications – make technology work for you rather than against.